


"How exactly did you manage to get stuck in there?"

by Yuuki_Nyanmaru



Series: Young Love [3]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru
Summary: “You…” he whispered.“Sho…?”
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho
Series: Young Love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073900
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Sakuraiba Tanabata 2020-2021





	"How exactly did you manage to get stuck in there?"

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the last drabble for this series. It's set 3 years after Aiba's transfer, so now they aren't high schoolers but college students.  
> Hope you enjoy it ^^

Sakurai exhaled out of breath as he managed to get away from the crowd. The only thing he wanted was to buy his lunch, but due to a nearby location shoot for a TV show, the place and all the streets around it got filled up with people.

“What the hell,” he complained, as he looked back at the crowd.

He didn’t get to buy any food, so now he could only walk down the street to search for another store. His head moved left and right, until he spotted an opened _ramen_ restaurant some meters ahead of him. He checked his watch, and realizing that he still had some time before his next period, he decided to stop by the store.

Just as he was about to enter the shop, though, he heard someone calling for help. Looking to his right, he saw a guy standing in front of the vending machine he had passed by some minutes before, with his arm inside it.

“Help!” the guy shouted.

Since no one was around, and Sho was the only one who could help that young man, he walked towards him. 

“What happened?” he asked from afar.

“I can’t move my arm!”

At that reply, Sho’s eyes bulged as he started to run to the other one. When he arrived, his worries proved right: the guy had his arm stuck in the machine.

“How exactly did you manage to get stuck in there?” he questioned rather astonished.

“My snack got stuck and I tried to retrieve it, but I got stuck as well...” the guy replied.

Deciding to set the conversation for later, Sho put down his bag and rolled up his sleeves, “Alright, we have to be careful. Let’s see what we can do.”

Sho crouched down next to the boy and tried to understand how far his arm was. Luckily, it didn’t seem too bad so, gently, he held the stranger’s arm and began to pull it. He tried to not hurt the guy as much as he could, so Sakurai would always stop whenever the other one moaned in pain.

After many minutes and struggles, they managed to get the boy’s arm free.

“It hurts!” the stranger whined, as he rubbed his forearm.

“At least we got you out of there.”

“Thank you very much.”

As they stood up and finally looked at each other, they both gasped.

“You…” he whispered.

“Sho…?”

In front of him there was Aiba Masaki, his former schoolmate, and also crush, he hadn’t seen for 3 years. And, _oh_ , he was even more gorgeous than he remembered. 

Aiba’s face lit up immediately as he proceeded to throw himself at him, hugging him tightly. Sho was so taken aback that he couldn’t even return the hug.

“How have you been? I haven’t seen you in ages!” Aiba said as he withdrew from him.

“I’m fine… How about you?” he asked back.

“Everything’s alright.”

Some instants were spent by looking at each other smiling, before Aiba bit his lip and spoke again.

“You know, I missed you.”

“Me too,” he said, “You went away so suddenly, I… _We_ weren’t prepared for it.”

Masaki’s smile died down, and now his face wore a sad expression, “When I told my parents about what happened, they tried to get me out of there as soon as possible. I’m really sorry about that.”

“You could have told us.”

“I was looking for the right moment, and before I could realize, my parents had already transferred me somewhere else.”

Aiba’s eyes were sincere, so was his tone; he wasn’t lying. Sakurai let out a sigh and picked up his bag which was still on the ground.

“I thought that you didn’t consider us as your friends,” he confessed.

“That’s absurd! You guys were my dear friends! Especially you, Sho; you were-” the boy stopped abruptly, as his eyes widened, as if he had just done something he shouldn’t have.

Sakurai stepped closer, “What about me?”

“N-Nothing…”

“Aiba, please,” he continued, urging him.

“It’s in the past. Forget it,” Masaki mumbled.

Sho’s heartbeat began to race, even though his mind was reminding him to not carried away, that Aiba could have meant _anything_ , and not what his ears had been eager to hear since he had started to hang out with him.

However, Sakurai had nothing to lose at this point, and so, he decided to confess.

“I had a crush on you.”

As fast as lightning, the other guy’s head raised, as he stared at him in disbelief.

“I didn’t have the courage to tell you back then, and when you went away without telling us anything, I thought that you didn’t even consider me as part of your life. So… Well, that’s it.”

Sho bit his lip as he waited for a reply, which was yet to come. When he looked into the other boy’s eyes, he suddenly felt conscious of what he had done, and uneasiness spread inside him.

“Sorry, shouldn’t have said that,” he said hurriedly, “It was nice to see you. Bye.”

He walked away fast, just to be stopped by Aiba’s hand which took his arm, making him turn around.

“Me too.”

Sho furrowed his eyebrows, “You too what?”

“I had a crush on you too, but I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Masaki released his arm and an awkward silence filled the space between them, as they didn’t know what to do or say. That was such a messed up confession that it didn’t even feel like one. They were probably too shocked to realize that they had just admitted to having had mutual feelings in the past.

The first to do something was Sho, who coughed and looked back at the _ramen_ shop he was headed to before. He put his hands in his pockets and spoke shyly, “I’m having lunch at that shop. Care to join me?”

Masaki looked down before mumbling, “I would love that.”

So, the two began to walk towards the shop.

“Is this a date?” asked Aiba.

“Do you want it to be one?”

Masaki didn’t give him an answer with words, he just glanced at him and smiled. And so did Sho, returning the smile as much as he could.


End file.
